[TRDG]

Found it and it was very interesting!!

Maskirovka is a Russian term that reflects cover and deception in an operation, like Bagration, more on that later though for me.

Some of the basics of Operation Bagration and the new things they employed while doing this operation.
The Russians developed a higher level force structure which allowed them to get deeper penetrations after the breakthrough in this operation. These formations were not to be used/commited to the fight through tactical German defenses, but more along the lines of deep operational or strategic objectives only. Next they were used to take one part of an objective at a time, then follow on forces would go to the next part of the same or even different objective once the first part was a success.

The main force structures leading this was the tank army (Corps-sized echelon composed of two to three tank Korps, division sized elements) and/or one to two mechanized Corps. Another force for deep attacks were cavalry-mechanized groups which were temporary, used mostly if the terrain was not well suited for tanks.

To get these forces through the initial German defenses, there were specialized shock Russian armies used to break through the German defenses and get to the operational or strategic objectives. Then the tank/mech or cavalry-mech would then be introduced to exploit the breakthrough into the rear of the German lines.
These deep penetrating forces were only given the final order by the front commander in concert with a Stavka representative close to the front lines. The Stavka representative was in charge of aproving groups of armies on certain fronts.

Cheers, to be continued.......

Tom